Sen. Beall accused of pushing influence in Assembly race

State Assembly candidate Darcie Green has been on leave from her job at Kaiser since October 2015. And while it’s not uncommon for candidates to step away from work to run a campaign, her camp is whispering that a powerful local pol who’s backing a rival had something to do with it.

State Sen. Jim Beall is a supporter of Green’s opponent in the Assembly race, San Jose Councilman Ash Kalra. As the whisper campaign tells it, Beall, who frequently speaks with Kaiser on mental health issues, called top Kaiser officials last year and complained that employing Green looks like the organization is “favoring her” over other candidates. And since Kaiser is a nonprofit, that could be a problem.

Beall, of course, tells us it’s just not so.

“Your information is not correct,” the senator said. “As far as I’m concerned that never happened.”

“Some Kaiser personnel had told me confidentially that the phone call had occurred,” Robinson said. “I also heard about this through members of the Latino Caucus. I believe some sort of phone call was made.”

Darcie Green is on “administrative leave” from Kaiser

“I heard about it but I didn’t give it any attention,” Green said.

Robinson says Green was subsequently pulled into the hospital’s office and told she must either quit her campaign, quit her job or take an unpaid leave with no benefits. Green confirmed she’s currently on an “administrative leave to campaign” but declined to discuss the terms.

Green, who’s been employed with Kaiser as a community and government relations manager for nearly 7 years, ran for public office twice before during that time and was never asked to leave work. She currently sits on the county education board.

It wouldn’t be the first time Green was pulled into a political fight at work. Last summer, someone called Kaiser to report she was wearing a campaign t-shirt at an event for work. Green says those shirts don’t exist.

For his part, Councilman Kalra, who earned Beall’s endorsement before Green was put on leave, is staying out of the mess.

“Kaiser San Jose is a constituent of mine and I’ve worked well with them for over 7 years now on the City Council and I know nothing about this,” Kalra said. “I have no knowledge of anything regarding their personnel decisions.”